The U.S. men’s national team resumes its quest of repeating as CONCACAF Nations League winners this week with Jamaica standing in the way of Gregg Berhalter’s squad.
AT&T Stadium will play host to the tournament’s final four, as the USMNT and Jamaica square yet again in competitive action. The winner of Thursday’s semifinal will meet either Mexico or Panama on March 24 in the tournament final.
Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, and Antonee Robinson are among the USMNT players coming into camp on strong runs of form and will be expected to lead the squad this week. Tyler Adams and Haji Wright are back in their first USMNT squads since the 2022 FIFA World Cup and eager to impress.
Sergino Dest’s suspension for the semifinal will force changes at right back.
Here is the starting lineup we could see the USMNT deploy against Jamaica on Thursday, as well as the lineup we would deploy if we were making the final lineup decisions:
GOALKEEPER
Who will start: Matt Turner
Who should start: Matt Turner
Matt Turner might have lost his starting job at Nottingham Forest, but don’t expect him to drop to the USMNT bench.
Turner is the No. 1 option for Gregg Berhalter’s squad and should be back in between the posts this month. Ethan Horvath’s rising playing time at Cardiff City could up the fight between him and Turner, but I can’t see Turner being dropped.
DEFENDERS
Who will start: Joe Scally, Chris Richards, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson
Who should start: Joe Scally, Chris Richards, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson
Berhalter can go several different ways with his backline on Thursday, but I’d expect him to go this way against the Reggae Boyz.
Sergino Dest’s suspension will force Joe Scally into the right back position. Scally has continued to play regularly in Germany and remains the only natural right back in the current squad.
Tim Ream’s veteran presence remains key in the USMNT backline and although he isn’t playing regularly for Fulham, he should start against Jamaica. Ream’s defensive presence could see him as a stay-at-home defender while Chris Richards moves higher upfield.
Richards has enjoyed a stellar run in the Crystal Palace squad and has a leg up on Miles Robinson and Mark McKenzie in terms of form. Both Robinson and McKenzie are starting at club level, but Richards has enjoyed some positive performances in his most recent USMNT caps.
Antonee Robinson is enjoying a career-best season for Fulham and remains the USMNT’s long-term option at left back. Robinson’s strong defensive abilities paired with his growing distribution skills in attack could make him a dangerous weapon vs. Jamaica.
MIDFIELDERS
Who will start: Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Tyler Adams
Who should start: Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Malik Tillman
Tyler Adams is in the USMNT squad, but there are fitter options for Berhalter to call on.
Adams admitted Monday that he could be available for 45-60 minutes, which does make him an option off the bench. However, his long-term presence is crucial in the squad, so risking him in the starting lineup doesn’t make sense.
Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah remain vital to how the USMNT want to attack and defend and partnering together in midfield is the logical thing. McKennie is back from his injury spell while Musah is coming off added minutes in Europa League play.
Musah could be forced to play more defensively, allowing McKennie to get upfield in attack.
Gio Reyna’s lack of playing time at Nottingham Forest could cost him a starting role in Thursday’s match, but he does have positive history in Nations League play. Malik Tillman has been playing regularly and deserves an opportunity in the USMNT midfield alongside McKennie and Musah.
Confidence is certainly on Tillman’s side more than it is on Reyna’s.
Brenden Aaronson and Johnny Cardoso will also fight for minutes, but expect them to serve as bench options.
FORWARDS
Who will start: Tim Weah, Folarin Balogun, Christian Pulisic
Who should start: Haji Wright, Folarin Balogun, Christian Pulisic
Christian Pulisic remains focal in the USMNT attack and has form on his side coming into camp.
Pulisic now has 20 goal contributions in his debut Serie A season and has been able to score and assist in numerous ways. Expect him to be lively from the opening whistle from his left wing position.
Folarin Balogun has struggled lately with Monaco, but he remains the USMNT’s most talented striker. Balogun’s versatility and physicality could force issues for the Jamaican back line, especially if he is paired with the right wingers.
Tim Weah’s role with the USMNT is higher than it is right now with Juventus. Weah has mainly served as a bench option this winter with Juventus, but has chemistry with Balogun from their past appearances together.
In-form Haji Wright was called into camp as an injury replacement and could also see time as a No. 9 or out wide. Wright has enjoyed a positive first season with Coventry City and is coming off another stellar performance last weekend.
Ricardo Pepi will fight for Balogun and Wright for minutes and has remained an impact substitute for club and country.
Reyna and Tillman are also wide options, but I’d expect to see them more so in midfield.
What do you think of our projected lineups? Which would you start? Who are you most excited to see play? Are there any doubts you have?
Share your thoughts below.
Well, there was a lot of bad and I’m sure many will post about that. One positive was Brendan Aaronson had a good game. I guess Gregg has a four leaf clover somewhere. They certainly needed Adams and Reyna to win.
yeah, some posters’ comments against reyna’s club form and gamers who fill the net in big games (wright) have not aged well, eh? you’ve also seen why i want one AM who is precision (reyna) as opposed to 2 AMs that are fairly sloppy.
to me this game shows the US needs to either amp up the offense or tighten down the defense and that the vaunted weston/musah midfield concept is just a bit too sloppy. you put a few more pure attackers out there — like we did at the end — we get more precision and scary. which i guess people forget is what we did in previous NL.
or take it the other way and lock down the defense.
but the fanboy favorite midfield is actually not that good. it’s kind of a little of both but a little offense and a little defense is kind of neither fish nor fowl. will anything be done about it? we’ll see.
IV,
“to me this game shows the US needs to” figure out how to get out of the blocks faster.
There are exceptions but down through the years, very often, first game back after a while, the USMNT does horribly.
Pulsic and Musah, two guys who might make your college team, mostly sucked their entire game.
I expect that when they play Mexico in the Final, they should be much more lean mean, fluid killing machine. Of course I do.
¡Milagro en Dallas!
Own goal by Burke, provoked by Miles Robinson. Yikes. 1-1 into OT.
Sorry, earlier I think maybe I meant so that _Weston_ could play a position that he played at Juve.
And don’t rely on me for subs, sorry.
Reyna, Adams, Wright, Pepi, Aaronson are now (I think) on for Scally, Musah, Weah, Balogun, Tillman.
Johnson, Burke, Anderson, T. Gray on for J. Lowe, Cephas, Palmer, Reid.
Adams has a 45-minute limit, so Cardoso is warming up. Sandoval is back on the call. This page is very full, sorry.
97’ Haji Wright, 2-1. (-:
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94 minutes of boring, boring bunker-ball. Give Jamaica credit for being disciplined, but man, talk about dull!
why are you dinging a team for a tactical concept that had them ahead 1-0 when they got to the +4 point that was on the initial time added board. i am so bored with the aestheticians complaining how things look. it’s wins and losses. we were a winning team playing schoolyard pickup ball at the end and having reyna play throughballs. their chance to win this was what they did, scrap scrap mess us up then sneak one. it almost worked. just maybe tell their backs to flick clearance headers to the sideline instead of head at their own net and they maybe win that one.
Jamaica came here to win not entertain.
wow
Thanks, Larry. Anything you notice we’re missing?
Pepi, Wright, Aaronson warming up.
Crosas: the US still “very predictable,” Jamaica defense still very good. Musah has really struggled to distribute from a fixed position, is usually much better box-to-box.
Triple change to come:
Adams (!), Pepi, Wright
Cephas nearly put one past Richards — why wasn’t anyone else there to help?
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to underline why i want a 10 and not this two 8 malarkey, reyna is dangerous facing goal but the formation ends up with him and 4 other guys facing backwards standing around waiting to be passed the ball.
half our problem first half was final product, which reyna is an upgrade on. you are seeing why reyna should start and the whole club form argument is just silly.
the other half is systemic, that we spend most of the time with our attacking players back to goal or heading to the flag. the only time we break out of the back to goal problem is flicking wall balls on for overlaps. otherwise it’s very positionally static or headed away from goal in a sport where you are rewarded for going to goal. which, jamaica, flaws and all, is the team trying to do.
i mean all jamaica is doing – they look tired — is playing an offsides line and then battling for 50/50s. this is very simple. have some folks make runs behind the defense and not just stand around or show backwards. mix up the runs a little. duh.
José Luis López Salido is the other guy in the studio. They still also have the rather annoying Lindsey Casinelli, although they’ve lost better people like Diego Balado.
Salido and Sandoval were making outrageously optimistic pregame bets, like US winning 4-0 or 5-1. They put a lot of emphasis on the low percentage of MLS starters and the high percentage of Europe-based players. Ah well.
Just before the half there was another little effort or two, but have the US even had any shots on frame? Hmm …
They’re all trying to remember the last time they saw such a poor half of soccer from the US. Honduras was mentioned … Berhalter unhappy.
The goal from Leigh evidently came after only about 20 seconds. Yikes. Did Antonee, of all people, lose his mark to allow the fast cross in? He’s coming off a really hard-fought, well-played Fulham game last weekend, IIRC.
There’s some talk of a change so that Weah can play a position that he’s played at Juve — didn’t catch it all, sorry.
Nohra, so high-pitched and exhausting to listen to, is calling the second half.
Reyna is on (?) but has played very few minutes in EPL. As we knew.
Crosas says, if I understood, the Jamaica camp in Kingston spent a whole lot of time on making _defensive_ runs, and it shows.
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when i talk about marking air, the goal is a good example of it. the jamaicans were doing a lot of up-down and sideways crossing-patterns and sitting in holes in what was basically a zone defense. no one is really marking anyone. jedi is fronting his guy who gets the ball behind and muscles him off. scally is marking air back post and the runner has slid into his blind spot having swapped with a runner who headed back upfield. guys open all over the place.
in comparison, while sometimes diving in, jamaica is bodying everyone up, winning balls, and getting upfield in a hurry.
No one’s doing a live blog? Hope things are okay at SBI …
I’m still catching up and watching what I can catch in Spanish, where both games are free over the air. Doesn’t look great so far after about 35 min.
Michele Giannone (sideline):
Musah is going to play as a “volante de contención,” that is, a 6 or defensive/holding midfielder. The previous plan had been for Johnny Cardoso to be the 6 with McKennie & Musah together at the double 8. But Cardoso has a knock and Betis nearly didn’t let him come at all; he only arrived Tuesday afternoon and only did a little light training yesterday. So Cardoso will be on the bench, and in case of emergency Musah will (also?) be a “volante de recuperación,” that is, a central or competing/pacesetting midfielder — which is actually where he played last year in the 3-0 against Mexico.
Ramses Sandoval (play by play)
10 Pulisic, 20 Balogun, 21 Weah
17 Tillman, 8 McKennie
6 Musah
5 A. Robinson, 3 Richards, 12 M. Robinson, 19 Scally
1 Turner
19 J. Lowe
20 Cephas, 10 De Cordova-Reid
14 Palmer
15 Latibaudiere, 3 Hector
22 Leigh, 6 Bernard, 17 D. Lowe, 2 Lembikisa
1 Blake
Leon Bailey & Stewart were not called because of disciplinary breach last time; Demarai Gray called up but suspended for this game; Michail Antonio picked up an injury in training; many missing, but they look a lot better than the US
22’ Why didn’t Pulisic shoot faster after fast counterattack?
Marc Crosas, Dani Nohra commentary
Enrique Bermudez
Michele:
Grass at stadium in Arlington is as awful as usual, laid temporarily over concrete; and Mexico is going to have to play on it later
Weah is having to drop pretty far back to make anything happen … not necessarily a good thing.
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Sorry for no live blog. We have been using our writers for article coverage so the live blog is on hold
how do you not finish — or even get a shot on goal — out of a 3 on 1 where a guy is played into open space? use your left foot CP…..
if you wonder why i usually suggest moore, it’s (a) he can defend (and we badly need that) and (b) scally has nightmares like this first 15 too often.
people have fun at my expense but per usual the wingbacks used on this team cannot defend 0-1
22’’. They look completely lost.
Starting lineup for game vs Jamaica…4-2-3-1 formation…
Pepi
Pulisic – McKennie – Tillman
Musah – Cardoso
A. Robinson – M. Robinson – Richards – Scally
Horvath
I gave serious consideration to Pulisic on the RW, Haji on the LW, and thought about Weah at RB.
Starting Adams would be criminal, not to mention short-sighted and idiotic.
Here Gomez already talking smack, saying if the USMNT doesn’t make the final it will be GB’s biggest failure. This fro a guy who struggles to notice the good stuff.
OK, you don’t like GB, but geez, how about some insight and not some political science!! Talk about the game, the tactics, the players…stuff you supposedly have insight about.
any FOOL could have said that comment Herc!
we need new voices talking to America about its teams.
Saw that too, and my first thought was “what happened back in the day between those two?” because Herc obviously has a grudge. I always admired him as a player and usually trust his takes but not on this one. Like him or not, Gregg built this squad and the players are behind him. we have a really big tournament this summer, for which nations league is just a tuneup. If we stink it up at the Copa, or multiple key players sour on Gregg, then you consider a change with 2 yrs before world cup ‘26.
the thing was rubble + pulisic in 2017, anyone who got the job would have “built it” and played a bunch of U20s and U23s in doing so.
my deal is this is the best generation of players we’ve had, period, and yet inferior to 02/10 on the field. that generation has limited shelf life and yet my sense is this dude’s gonna get to blow 2/3 of their world cup chances, including an advantageous hosting one, and we’ll then see what we can do with a bunch of players around 30 in 2030.
i think around then, when careers and excuses start running out for their predecessors, and we start having to turn to the inferior cowell generation (which so far is more like the 2010s bunch), people will get what was wasted.
and get they aren’t the most talented in the world — but this doesn’t stop morocco or croatia — but they should be good enough. but we have bought into pressing and possession tactics that don’t work for personnel, and perhaps because we are being coached by a backup centerback who somehow styles himself an attacking genius, we never quite fix our problems either end. we don’t work on shooting, which i think you should be able to fix in a decade if you get hired for 2 terms. the offensive approach is uninspired. the defense isn’t airtight and is often premised around wingback risktaking that teams like holland routinely punished.
but, yeah, we seem happy to be about where we usually have been, which is about why we stay there. every time this gets to knockout stages the personnel ossifies and the system doesn’t change. even if we go out first round.
IV: the difference between 02 and 10 and ‘22 (both needed late heroics to even get out of their groups, ‘02 needed help from South Korea getting outplayed by Poland 3-1) is veteran leadership. The players from ‘98 to ‘02 were many of the same the difference was they matured and improved, weren’t cast off because they finished last in ‘98 getting beaten by Iran (unlike this years group you constantly maligned for only beating Iran 1-0). 2006 the team never won a match and had a -4 GD. It however gave guys like Bocanegra, Dolo, and Dempsey their first WC experience and allowed old guys like Gregg, Claudio, McBride, Keller to age out. This group only has a couple age out potential guys.
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Iron sharpens iron, this group gets better by new guys earning their way in and pushing them. Johnny, Malik, and Flo all being guys added essentially since Qatar. Lund, Maloney and some of the U23s looking to push too. These guys know they are not going to be handed anything they’ve got to earn it on the pitch and improve day to day to make 2026, not earning a spot because they score in a friendly 7 yrs ago or getting on the time because you hit a lucky shot from distance 4 yrs ago and haven’t done it again since.
iron doesn’t sharpen iron if i see the same faces every time we have a tournament like this. the deal is a good chunk of this lineup is actually unaccountable to performance. if weston or jedi or dest has a weak world cup i will see them again. if wright scores the goal he is off the list and then a last second injury replacement. the guys whose name used to be in pen on lineup cards eg mcbride earned it with consistent NT performances, not fanboy theory based on reputation and club form. you talk up the competition BUT IT’S NOT EVEN IN CAMP.
also, you ignore that this thing is a freaking mess in the run of play. you adore the theoretical lineup of stars. they don’t function in games. i don’t know if that’s the team is too much premised on improv or intricate reads or possession, but they barely look like they played together before. after half a decade. which is my response to your comments on previous teams. they might have played crude soccer but the team defense and offensive concept was like they had played together before. players were chosen to be able to finish the time of chances the supporting players delivered. it wasn’t, i have this cute theory that we don’t really execute, and then in reality we end up by the flags crossing the ball, but then we don’t put anyone in there to finish crosses.
plus you neglect on a basic level that a lot of the difference in 02 was guys like beasley and donovan. that team worked well because they could play fast with one chunk of the offense, or hit a deadball or cross to mcbride with the other chunk. right now there is no real plan. they spout some buzzwords and then hit diagonal balls to the flag. wow, i know mediocre U14 coaches that bright. the offense needs to move past we throw on a bunch of all star fanboy favorites and improvise chances. which is why most of our goals in big games are blood and guts rather than intricate executions.
IV: 1/3 of the roster has turned over since Qatar. That’s less than 18 months. Each friendly camp there’s 2 or 3 new faces, I’m sorry that you don’t like that type of player but don’t be a false and say the roster doesn’t change. You blast USSF for wanting to win everything then blast them when they lose friendlies or gold cups with experiments. It’s like you think being a negative Nelly makes you profound.
Beach, it actually would be his biggest failure because he doesn’t really have many failures. You’re a Gregg fan and I’m not, but as I have pointed out before, Gregg’s record in knockout games is 8-2. He lost a GC final to Mexico when I would say Mexico had better players and he lost to Holland at the WC and I would again say Holland had better players. People, me included are upset that the team was less than its parts during qualifying but the goals of qualifying were to get an automatic birth to WC and not drop out of Pot 2. The team essentially qualified with a game in hand barring a 6 goal loss in the last game which wasn’t going to happen. They were probably much closer to dropping out of Pot 2 than not qualifying and they may have done that by the skin of their teeth but that doesn’t matter; they didn’t drop out of Pot 2. What are his failures to date?
“Beach, it actually would be his biggest failure because he doesn’t really have many failures. ”
Gregg doesn’t have many “failures” because he doesn’t have many “successes”.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The vast majority of his opponents have been garbage, lesser garbage, half way decent and okay.
The puny opponents are not Gregg’s fault per se, as far a I know, but he has good stats for the same reason a lot of these NCAA football teams get into the playoffs; they fatten up on weaklings like Disco Tech and Altered State ; then they have to face Alabama, or Clemson or Georgia.
We can all agree that the USMNT is not an elite team, like, for example, France. By definition then, for the USMNT to make the kind of noise we all want it to make, like making the semis in either the World Cup or Copa America, they are going to have to beat a “better ” team.
Does anyone here really think that “will” happen?
It “can” happen but that is very different from “will” it happen.
Does Gregg know how to “win”?
Bruce , a coach I despise, with a little luck might have gotten to the semis in 2002, Bob could have beaten Brazil and won the Confederations Cup in 2009 and JK could have ousted Belgium in 2014. In these knockout tournaments anything can happen as those of us who watch NCAA basketball know very well. I saw all those games and I always felt that with just a bit more talent and luck we might have gotten that break.
I don’t get that feeling from Greg and this fun bunch. They always feel like they are just making it up as they go along. When Gregg loses these big ones, it doesn’t feel like he gets unlucky, Like when Frings batted Gregg’s shot off of the goal line in 2002. His teams just lose. Once the game kicks off, there is very little “there” there.
And that’s fine vs CONCACAF cannon fodder but not Uruguay, Brazil or Argentina in Copa America.
As for who Gregg has knocked off for his “signature” win, I know how you feel about Mexico but I found them to be a terrible disappointment. I was counting on them to be a reliable measuring stick. But ,even the team that beat Gregg in the 2019 Gold Cup was well below what I am used to from those guys. They don’t even seem to give shit anymore. They’re even still playing Memo??? I love the guy but he ain’t Keylor.
In Qatar England had just massacred Iran 6-2, so even if they lost to us, they knew we had dropped 2 points and they had a very pathetic Welsh team up next. So they used us to take a needed break. Any time you get a chance to take a break in a World Cup, you need to do it.
And the Netherlands? We were never in danger of winning or even tying that game. No matter what he says now, I felt like Louie was schooling Gregg because he could.
This is professional sport. I don’t believe in fairness, I believe in results.
Gregg held serve. That’s all and at this level, that’s a loss. You can say what you want about the Bruce, Bob and JK years.
But these six years under Gregg, when we had some unparalleled growth in the player pool , growth which had little or nothing to do with Gregg and the USSF, those are six years we’ll never get back.
And wo knows what might have happened under less ignorant management.
If you insist on being fair to Gregg , remember Gregg worked until the end of his contract. He wasn’t fired. If you had ended things then then that would have been a fair result. The team qualified for Qatar, they rose back to dominance in CONCACAF ,as if anyone ever thought that they weren’t going to (really?) . A solid base. A team with a lot of good pieces in place
Instead the USSF gave him a new contract. That’s the sin, the obscenity right there.
What the USSF is saying is that they entrusted MY team to a raw rookie manager and were happy with the results and now are going to double down on Berhalter Ball.
If you’re happy with that I don’t know what to tell you. I see it as a lack of planning, ambition and money. You’re talking about people who let little ole, Danielle Reyna push them around.
Still, I now want Gregg to succeed because it’s becoming clear that if he doesn’t. there is a real possibility that Jesse Marsch, an elite level bullshitter and the man who gave you the mirage that is Brenden Aaronson, could be the most logical replacement.
If you doubt me just ask him
Vac, winning a tournament you are supposed to win is still a success. If your only measure of success is beating a team that is better than you than you are relying mostly on luck for success. You say results matter but then discount Gregg’s results because you say they were against bad teams. US was totally lucky in 2002 WC and in 2009 Confederations Cup. If Gregg gets lucky and the team makes it to the semifinals of Copa, are you going to change your opinion of Gregg and say he is a good coach because the team got lucky? Or better still they make it to the semifinals by being better than their opponents?
Vac, because I like statistics and had some time:
Arena:
Gold Cup – 2000 lost 2-0 to Columbia in QF, 2002 beat CR 2-0 in finals, 2003 lost to Brazil 2-0 in semis, 2005 beat Panama in penalties in finals, 2017 beat Jamaica 2-1 in finals
Conf Cup: 1999 lost to Mexico 1-0 in semis, 2003 eliminated in group stage
World Cup: 2002 lost to Germany 1-0 in QF, 2006 eliminated in group play, 2018 in conjunction with Klinsmann failed to qualify
Bradley:
Gold Cup: 2007 beat Mexico 1-0 in finals, 2009 lost 5-0 to Mexico in finals, 2011 lost 4-2 to Mexico in finals
COPA: 2007 eliminated in group stage going 0-3 2 GF, 8 GA
Conf Cup: 2009 got out of group with 1-2 record 4GF 6GA, lost to Brazil in finals 3-2
World Cup: 2010 eliminated in round of 16 2-1 by Ghana in extra time
Klinsmann:
Gold Cup: 2013 beat Panama 1-0 in final, lost playoff with Mexico to go to Conf Cup, 2015 lost to Jam in semis
WORLD CUP: 2014 lost in round of 16 to Belgium 2-1 in extra time, 2018 in conjuction with Arena failed to qualify
Berhalter:
Gold Cup: 2019 lost 1-0 to Mexico in finals, 2021beat Mexico 1-0 in finals
Nations League: 2022 beat Mexico 3-2 in extra time in finals, 2023 beat Canada 2-0 in finals
World Cup: 2022 eliminated 3-1 by Holland in round of 16
Hmm … lost a long post. Maybe this will make it re-appear. Not sure I want to type it again.
the thing that people keep failing to mention, or maybe its just selective ignorance at play, is that there were and have been many games where we just couldn’t score when given the opportunities to. I think back to wcq where we missed 2 sitters vs mexico in mexico, the same away against other central american teams.
In the WC both Pulisic and McKennie hit the post vs England, and against the Netherlands Pulisic was one v one with the keeper and couldn’t put he ball in the back of the net. There has to come a time when the players we keep saying are elite have to score those goals, because against the world’s best you only get a few chances and you have to put them away, period, and that’s not on Greg!
V/Tele: if you want statistical analysis, it’s WCQ. you play every team left in the region twice. you don’t get to play them all at home every night, only half the time. you have to be able to adjust and take points from difficult situations.
you go back and look and last WCQ we finished 3rd with this talented a team, ahead of CR on tiebreakers. behind not just talented young canada — who shouldn’t be better than this, despite its gifts — but also an ageing mexico that looked like a tryhard mess in qatar. we nearly got passed by CR in the standings who was older than dirt, finished winless and 4th last NL, finished .500 behind panama and not even in the semis this time.
and if that’s not enough a “stat,” go through and compare ppg. the US managed a tepid 1.79 ppg last cycle. while better than 1990’s 1.4 ppg or 2018’s 1.2 ppg, 2014 and 2006 averaged 2.2, and 2010 — 2.0. it’s roughly on par with the 1998 team’s 1.7.
as i keep pointing out, this has basically regressed back to the 1990s. we don’t regularly compete well with the elite. we don’t travel well. part of what happened as this improved was we could travel well and we could take results off good teams.
our colleague says we just need to leave the team alone but those teams didn’t do it by stubborn gelling of players, they did it by if landon or beasley was better they took your job. right now we would make some sort of club based excuse for why not to try the kids. oh it’s dortmund but he’s a U19. it’s gutless and passive.
Ronnie Thomas,
“the thing that people keep failing to mention, or maybe its just selective ignorance at play, is that there were and have been many games where we just couldn’t score when given the opportunities to.”
And???? That is what is known as an excuse, in my bad Spanish mi perro se comió mi tarea.
Here’s the flaw in your excuse making. You’re using hypotheticals to prove a point. Hypotheticals prove shit.
In other words, prove that those hypothetical goals can change anything, then I will consider saying that hitting the post or missing by less than an inch or two counts the same as actually scoring a goal.
“There has to come a time when the players we keep saying are elite have to score those goals, because against the world’s best you only get a few chances and you have to put them away, period, and that’s not on Greg!”
Actually, those players are likely to miss more of those than make them. It’s really hard to score a goal.
Who is “we”? I don’t call any US player elite. We have some players with some elite skills but there are no consistently elite level USMNT players.
And you say it’s not on Gregg. Of course it is on him. I’m not blaming Kyle Robertson. Because if the guys he keeps choosing to score keep FAILING to score, guess who gets fired? The aforementioned Kyle?. He’s the equipment manager. Why fire him? The manager he gets the credit if they win and the blame if they lose. Gregg knows that and if he doesn’t like it he’s free to quit any day.
Gregg gets a ton of criticism because he earns it.
It’s very simple. Compile all the stats you want but answer this question:
Do you believe, in your heart of hearts, that Gregg is the very best person to get the most out of this player pool?
Are you standing there with pride on the opening day of World Cup 2026 knowing deep down that Gregg’s edition of the USMNT represents all the very best that is good and true about what American soccer is and what they can become?
Because if you don’t believe that, then you should be embarrassed. The team is getting better but at a glacial pace. The Arctic will be ice free before Gregg figures it out and that is not even a joke.
I’m endorsing Gregg because I think he is preferable to the bullshit storm that would coat the USMNT should Jesse Marsch take it over.
How about that for a great endorsement?
Bro Berhalther is an awful coach Jimmy Conrad don’t like him either. Look at how he dragged Haji Wriggt saying he was awful never recalled Gregg having to play in a muddy or snowy pitch(Ala Clint Dempsey vs Costa Rica) and not risk getting injured. The guy got the job because of his brother. He could not make it in Norway nor in MLS coaching. You all are extremely biased dude is an awful coach. What big team have we beat under him? Spain under Bob Bradley, Beating Italy in a friendly under Klinsmann.
it’s because the basic system premise doesn’t work so we cannot win tough tough games on a mix of game plan punctuated with situational execution. you wanna beat a team like france you need to know what the heck you are trying to do, both ends, those ideas need to make tactical sense, and you then need some folks up top where we can find them and they will finish.
we don’t put A B C out there in some system that really works that helps them combine to goal, with C out there who will finish. we put X Y Z out there because they have buzz from club ball, in a system that doesn’t work, and Z then puts the ball past the post if we can find him. and you see us coming a mile away with our tactics. at which point you had better be technical or speed gods who can beat someone who knows what is happening to them.
we don’t know where to find the 9 a lot of the time. we don’t know how we are trying to create goals. we don’t have a defensive formation that does some of the work for us. and we like to take risks atop it all. we have a ton of talent but other than get it to the flag and try and come up with something improvised, we have no real plan.
we play the ball on the floor more than ever but basic team concept has regressed, more intellectually than aesthetically. this is crippled by snake oil salespeople have taken over the apparatus. we are like aiming to do some 30 pass pep thing that never happens and doesn’t suit the people. and when my youth select coach had us try something like that and it didn’t work, it lasted a half and not 7 years. if it was going to gel it would have already done so. team scheme is not actually this hard if it works.
Play the most handsome guys. It’s not that complicated
I think Pulisic, McKennie, Richards, Turner, Arob, and Scalley will start. If Reyna is deemed 60 minutes fit, he will also start. Adams will not start. The rest of the starters will be based on what the coaching staff sees in camp and could include Brendan or Haji if they out perform others in training.
Play the hot players. Pulisic, McKennie top the list, followed by Tillman, Pepi, Wright, Richards, A Robinson. If you move Weah to RB for Dest, then you can start all the above. Musah a no-brainer. That just leaves the other CB, it’s Miles for me against Jamaica’s speed. Foolish to use Reyna for anything but a supersub. Criminal to play Adams at all, I like the closer idea but these games could go extra time.
sorry but this theory was disproven decades ago. by this standard jozy, lassiter, wondo, and twellman should have been the all time great US strikers. it’s instead mcbride and dempsey — neither of whom were record setters — but both of whom had well-oiled specific games that fit a scheme. and they were both gamers who would battle and score in key games when we needed it. landon is the exception who bridged “club form” to doing it for the nats.
the history is actually that some of dempsey and jozy’s best NT years they were platooning at spurs or on a series of club benchings.
this is precisely the all star team mentality that concerns me. most NT function instead around, “we are going to play x style,” and then recruit players to that style. we have sufficiently regressed fanboys don’t get that a halfway productive club star can be a NT system misfit.
that and because of the mindless plodding pro-posession nature of our offense, creativity and rapport have been lost. there is not enough of, say, wright’s flick over the keeper on holland. quit being robots. try some stuff. the idea is to create chances and score goals. the scoreboard doesn’t show possession numbers end of the game. nor are we actually that good at stringing the sort of 30-pass water torture goals some fanboys adore on social media. personally my favorites were of the 15 second, 3 pass variety. boom, boom, goal.
Lol I like Wright but his WC goal was pure luck. If that’s the kind of goal you are after then I don’t know what to say. At least Green’s WC goal was an intentional strike on target. The players I suggested as starters are the guys just about anyone would pick anyway. What I suggested are relatively minor tweaks, Weah has not been quite himself since injury but has played alot at RB for Juve, so its not a stretch for him to fill in for the suspended Dest, and open up the right wing for one of our forwards who have been scoring goals in bunches, getting more guys on the field who have been scoring goals, because that’s how you win games. By scoring goals. There is absolutely a thing in sports about being in a rhythm of being successful, we call it “form” in soccer. Not sure what you don’t get about this, even as an amateur athlete I have felt it. It is real.
Jozy is 3rd all-time in goal scoring and basically scored at the identical goals per match rate as Donovan. Only three players with more than 10g have a better goals per game average Clint, Christian, and the Pirate of the Caribbean. Pepi will be better should he score at least once this week.
“it’s instead mcbride and dempsey — neither of whom were record setters” actually those two are #1 and #2 in Premier League goals by Americans so they were in fact record setters. Dempsey finished 4th in the EPL in 11/12 for goals scored. Which I think his 17 that year is a record for an American in a top league 23g in 46 matches across all comps isn’t too shabby (it’s taken Dwayne Holmes 9 seasons and 243 matches to score 23g for Championship teams)
So I guess the more you know!
JB, I am not sure I would say either of Wright’s or Green’s goals were pure luck. Wright did what he was supposed to by getting a touch on a pass that was behind him that would gave easily been cleared otherwise in an attempt to keep a scoring chance alive. If he knocked the ball to an area that had three US players and three defenders statistically there would have been a 50% chance that the US would have gotten a good scoring opportunity. The odds were probably more like 5 defenders and 3 attackers with one defender being allowed to use his hands so probably less than 33% chance but that is much better than 0% had he let the ball run. I think it is pretty clear that Green mishit the ball when he scored but he still got himself in a dangerous position with space and mishit or not, he got the ball on target so I wouldn’t say it was total luck, but Haji was probably closer to doing what he intended than Green. If you want to see a goal that I do think was total luck, look at the goal Hutchinson scored for Canada against El Salvador in qualifying. That was truly amazing.
JR is playing number games. my point is they were reliable finishers who worked within a concept. however at any individual year they would not be scoring 30 goals in league. JR ironically kind of gets my point at the end by pointing to a career stat, that over time you could rely on dempsey or mcbride. he’s just too busy nitpicking my numbers to get what it all means.
and thus he no surprise mentions jozy who was generally useless NT in big games except that algeria goal. of course you trot out 30 goals. my point is precisely that. jozy had a lot of friendly goals. so did lassiter. wondo and twellman had their little january hat tricks. but you feed them against belgium and it gets missed.
my point is in NT ball in big games you want the reliable, precision dudes, who aren’t necessarily scoring 30 in holland, but who get the job done in a system and are thus the sort of player an EPL team might keep around even though they aren’t breaking EPL records.
i mean you don’t get you’re slipping right into advocating jozy as a NT striker which we all know is dubious which is my freaking point. it doesn’t always translate. and if you want to treat that as translating no wonder you are content with this half baked mess. yeah, weston scores a few goals. not enough and we don’t win enough. so maybe give it all a rethink if you care if it ever kicks up a notch, no?
JB: my point isn’t for every goal to be acrobatics. my point is occasionally try something, go for some clever or easy stuff. every goal doesn’t have to be christian getting kicked in the midsection desperately pushing the ball across.
you actually get my point on green. i wasn’t saying that was sneaky. he simply accurately finishes. for some reason this is out of style. my point is get some easier goals by either more player rapport or more precision finishing. and occasionally do something clever and not always what a defender would expect. we are too predictable.
turner
scally richards miles lund
weah musah johnny christian
reyna
pepi
GB botched DM but then i expect him to flip the triangle back over to dual 8s which will make it interesting if reyna starts. we are getting poor value from dual 8s when we play good teams. not enough direct offense and we get countered. we need double 6s and a single 10. reyna is then the better 10.
to be fair, i think we beat jamaica regardless how you slice it, but that shouldn’t decide how we setup here, which should stem from how to line up against better teams. which the double 8 doesn’t work on.
Duane Holmes has played 70 minutes since Jan 1. Some of that because of injury. Some because he’s incredibly inconsistent and has been his entire career. I’ve explained this to you before. Look at his seasons he’ll have 2 or 3 weeks and it will make up 90% of his production for the season and then have no goal contributions for 5 months. He started the season with 3g 3a all comps the first month. The last 6 months 1g 2a. He has 9 shots on target all season. His last shot on target was Nov 10. 4th months without one shot on target! His longest goal is 15 yds and his last goal from outside the 18 was 25 months ago. That’s the guy you want shooting from distance?
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Julian Green has gone 900 minutes without a goal or assist. Last goal contribution Dec. 2. Since Dec. 2 he’s had 22 shots 9 on target not bad (I mean in 10 matches he’s got as many shots on target as Holmes for the season) but his xG during that time he’s only had one opportunity that was rated as more than 0.1. He’s taking shots that are unlikely to go in and they’re not going in. He does have 2g from outside the 18 this season but none since October. He has 8 in 7 seasons with Furth. That’s great 1 per season for your club, but if it takes you 38 matches to make 1 that could be 4 or 5 years with the NT. I wouldn’t hate Green getting another call up but if he’s your key to the US competing for the Copa or WC it’s the definition of a fanboy.
————————————
Maybe we should start Duane Holmes. I mean he’s far more productive than Romain Gall.
So you’re saying that the numbers support my prior that Green is an OK player on a mediocre team in a 2nd division. Good to know.
Probably should call him up, though. To be safe. He does have a WC goal, after all.
this sounds cute but both guys have MORE MINUTES and MORE PRODUCTION than the more fancied aaronson.
you also continue to finesse my point that both players are gifted at hitting accurate shots around the edge of the box, which would bring free-kick-ability and the ability to get occasional cheap goals we don’t seem to get outside of dest whacking one in once a year.
and chuckle it up but as long as the US team is based around players who disappeared in qatar it’s going to plateau and disappear the next place, too. to hear the chattering class sargent needs to come back. sargent got plenty of qatar time and i barely remember a thing he did. wright is the one who actually produced something.
it’s cute to make fun of people for cutting against the all star mentality but you have misdiagnosed who might make this competitive in the “holland” or “germany” type games we continue not to win. it’s not jedi or dest. it’s not weston. it’s not LDLT. pay more attention to who shows up in big games or world cups.
i mean, you’re pretending green only had the belgium goal. he also had us to a 1-0 lead on france the summer before they won 2018 russia. but you snobs don’t like where he plays soccer, and you like playing games with numbers where somehow he waits behind people who aren’t exactly setting the club world afire themselves.
some point you folks wake up and get that what wins you NL doesn’t work in copa or the world cup. when you want to start competing globally call me.
and, to be blunt, oops, i bit on the bait. what do holmes and green have to do with my post? i took issue with DEFENSIVE MID. and then i said i don’t think twin 8s is cutting it. that is less pro-green/holmes and more pro-10, pro-defensive midfield-work, and pro-reyna.
my point is this thing needs more directness and go direct to goal, less balls to flags. i’d be happy with pulisic as 10 just the same. i simply think twin 8s hasn’t worked as tactics. i also think weston is kind of overrated in the ordinary scheme of things.
IV. Instead of putting “free-kick-ability” up against JR’s actual stats, just lay it down. A 23 man roster that you think will give the best chance of winning the Copa. Doesn’t need justifications or anything. But no waffling about and just complaining that everything is wrong or might work here but not there, etc. The 23 players, or even 25 if you want, that you would choose. That way we all have a fixed idea of what you’re talking about.
But Fanboy they’re not great long shot takers. You once saw them do it this one time. They can’t replicate it. Did you look at the stats I gave you. Green does it once a year for his club. Holmes hasn’t had one in over 2 years. You honestly think a guy who has never played top division soccer or even been a top player in the lower division is going to make the difference against The Netherlands or Germany? Holme’s not even starting anymore for his mid table team. He does it every year has a hot two weeks and then disappears for months. If that’s during the WC, yippee but it probably won’t be. Green doesn’t have the game either. He’s not bad, but he’s not a difference maker to move us to the next level. At 28 he’s not going to get any better, but Yunus, Luca, Johnny, Brendon might. You honestly think that he couldn’t make in the Bundesliga with 3 different teams yet if you put him on the field against Germany he was going to make the difference against all those guys who are elite players in the Bundesliga? How does that make any sense?
Yes, bench Jedi that makes sense.
Jedi this season in EPL
Interceptions 1st
Possession won in the defensive third 2nd
Assists by a defender 1st
LBs in Aerial duel winning % 1st
Squawka has him rated as the 2nd best LB in the Premier League. Fotmob 3rd behind Zinchenko and Robertson (because they are better offensively).
Lund is nice young player but his defensive stats stink compared to Jedi. Fewer interceptions, fewer tackles, fewer blocks, fewer duals won, fewer aerial duals won, but sure fanboy out over the shiny new toy because he did nice against Oman.
I would put Wright up top, Pu7lisic on the wing and either Weah or even Aronson on the right wing. I really like to play guys who are presently in good form and that leaves out Reyna. He really needs to get minutes at Forest. I would not start Adams. McKennie and Musah are locks. Cardoso is playing a lot and seems to be playing well in La Liga. So I would put either him or Tillman there, depending on who looks best in practice. As for the back line, I’ve heard all the arguments about Ream and he did well the last go-round, but Jamaica always has speed, so we need a speedier CB than Ream. If that is Miles R. or McKenzie I’ll leave up to the coaching staff.
mckennie has “a” (singular) goal on a team outside the region, which i think was the slalom dribble in his first cap 5 years ago, and the dual 8 thing just generally sputters into passing to the flag. nor is he a consistent legbreaker of adams’ caliber who makes his passes, doesn’t make turnovers, and stops counters in their tracks. he’s sloppy on the ball and gets countered a decent amount.
anyhow, these days i am higher on musah and reyna, because they are “good” at one end or the other. they are good at an actual “job.” musah “is” a 6. adams “is” a 6. reyna “is” a functioning 10. the work gets done and things happen like they should. we need more guys who fulfill a system role as opposed to jack of all trades players out there on general toolkit and reputation but they don’t really fit what we’re trying to do. hence my fanboy critiques. being a pretty good player for a good team is nice but maybe fit in the concept someplace, and don’t be sloppy half the time. make danger balls and catch the counters. do. a. job.
Do you know who Wes does have goals against? Jamaica and Mexico! Do you know who does not have goals against Jamaica and Mexico? That’s right Julian Green and Duane Holmes!
i’m bored with your whiny misdirection of the debate. the team is better with a 10 as last summer showed. what scares you is weston loses the 10 battle to reyna. and you are in the tank for weston. since you are arguing in favor of the rather poor status quo — which only works in regional events — you turn this back to regional wins (which the named players don’t get invited to) and mocking my 3rd or 4th string 10 ideas.
thing being, that doesn’t change that if we formed the team up correctly, there would be a single AM slot, and i’d take reyna over weston 8 days a week for it. it’s about FIRST CHOICE TACTICS and FIRST CHOICE PLAYERS. you just want to talk about the battle for backup because you hope nothing ever changes so weston can be a mediocre AM who scores headers off corners and has few assists to anyone else, then gets burned for counter goals the other way.
i want to fix those 2 things. i want a 10 who can create. who can finish their shots. who doesn’t give the ball away half the night. and then i want a division of labor where 2 DM mop up the messes, where the 10 is freed up, and the transition defense gets fixed.
to be fair, i don’t expect a thing to change, but i also don’t expect us to improve much. we are a little too happy with sloppy semi-productive attackers who give the ball away a lot and are sometimes good at “d” but sometimes not. as long as we are fans of “semi” and “sometimes” this is not an elite team.
i am saying, pure attackers and then pure DMs. get rid of the two way mush. you don’t like that because you want to back the fanboy favorite who plays for the right club team. but dating back to schalke his issue always was he never quite fit a position slot in a scheme.
When have I ever said Wes should be a 10?
JR: that’s semantics. the deal is you know if they change the midfield triangle then weston loses his AM slot. call it 8 or 10, so what. the deal is what keeps him in high heels is we have twin 8s and his jack of all trades game fits that, and he manages to stay perceived in the top 2.
and then we lose soccer games. but we have a starter from juve. which is all that seems to matter.
let’s be real. his game is similar to BA’s in the sense they can play somewhat in a variety of spots but wouldn’t be your first choice at any of them. he’s an AM whose calling card is headers on set pieces. which is more like what a forward does. he hinders the actually run of play when he gets sloppy.
i think he should be first guy off the bench playing anywhere on the field we could use someone. i think he’s a poor choice run of play for 90′. you can now tout juve to me. and i can point back to juve sits 3rd and not 1st.
5 years ago? i mean 7.
Unlike many, I think it makes more sense to use both Reyna and Adams as subs. Which would be first choice would depemnd upon whether we were protecting a lead or needed to push for a goal.
The starting midfield should be Musah, McKennie and Tillman.
The forwards should be Pulsic, Weah and either Pepi or Wright (I am not in love with starting a player (Balogen) who has struggled lately and might lack composure/confidence in attack).
A caveat to that though is the staff who communicate with these guys on a regular basis and will have sessions with these guys will have a better grasp of their mentality.
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With Adams you also have to take into account if it goes to extra time if you put him in and then you have to play an additional 30 minutes what load does that give him.
on mentality, sorry, but there are “weahs” (who play well NT even when not being used in club) and there are “woods” (who lose all confidence if benched, and can’t even kick a ball straight) and we should be assessing that off individual track records rather than assuming it from pop psychology or theories on how to read the absence of playing time (i mean, there’s played 20 games and nothing happened, and there’s played 200 minutes and just never got a chance, and we need to quit confusing the two, one is a track record, the other is the absence of one).
reyna’s history is he has seemed to play fine regardless of club usage, but he has been injury prone and he has not seemed comfortable when asked to play more of a deeper 8 role. he wants to be up higher and run at people. and based on the injuries we should manage his minutes when he hasn’t played much, so get a lead and get him off. [and based on germany maybe don’t change the tactics 180 degrees the minute he comes off.]
i’ve said my piece on the risks of adams being there, i do think if used at all it should be a “closer” role against a team that seems broken. he doesn’t need to be chasing a desperate opponent playing for an equalizer, making him run everywhere. he doesn’t need to be out there in a game that might go longer than expected, agreed. he should maybe go in up 2-0 or 3-0 and the opponent just looks done. which sounds superficial but the idea isn’t turn this into some pop quiz to test him. not if you want out of the loop.
IV, I assume you then prefer Pepi to start, he has the longest track record with the Nats and has scored 10 goals in 22 games, neither Hagi, nor Folarin have that kind of track record and at 2 goals in 7 games and 3 goals in 8 games, neither has the goal scoring rate of Pepi.
dennis: not sure if my lineup is really clear above but i would go pepi sole striker in a 451 with reyna under him as a 10. triangle midfield, pointy end forward, 10 and two 6s. lots of DMs to strangle counters and shield the backs, reyna forward in pure attack with the front 5. to me the US needs to go more in the direction of a division of labor, you either are good at helping me shut people down or you are good at helping me score goals. not a fan of our fetish since nagbe for two way mush that just “kind of” does both. either score a hat trick or pitch shutouts.
pepi has 10 G in 22 caps (2.2 games/G); balogun has 3 G in 8 caps (2.67). balogun to me is not yet fully integrated in the system concept. but then the system is generally a mess. i just think they know better how to find pepi, and he’s developing a dempsey-esque “receive back to goal, turn, and put it in the corner” ability that works in international ball.
i would like to see us sit back and counter more which would make both the top guys useful poaching goals with athleticism behind or between backlines.
IV: should have been more clear, if Reyna and Balo look right (have the right mentality) they should start. I’m not going to get to up in arms if you started Pepi instead of Balo but Balo shouldn’t be punished because Monaco hasn’t been a great fit.
i didn’t mention balogun’s club situation and have said i tend to view such things are more relevant to new trial player scouting and only confuse matters in terms of capped players with NT track records. to me balogun has produced pretty well with the NT but didn’t seem well integrated so the offense stutters and goes completely wide when he’s in. pepi is ever so slightly more productive per cap, and scores on some good teams.
so start pepi and then balogun off the bench. or maybe even rotate. i’m not against balogun playing or even starting, that’s more of an embarrassment of riches situation. but there’s one slot. so who starts.
i think GB seems to see them as fairly equal, an so he tried a 2 striker system, and i wouldn’t be against it but whatever they practiced they seemed confused who was to do what when they tried to play. but i assume they had a handful of practices then trinidad twice. that’s long-camp stuff.
but then my general complaint with the whole system is it’s not very flowing and fluid. the ball goes here, stops. the ball goes there, stops. there isn’t a ton of “wall ball rapport” where they play quickly and just seem to know what each other is doing. it’s very predictable and plodding. one reason i used to push for ferreira was hoping his knack for combining with teammates would rub off. but you put him with the As and they don’t seem to know where he is, either. so i am hardly surprised on a few games’ work they couldn’t make balogun+pepi work. but then i would also go more big/fast with a 2 striker setup anyway. too much of this is trying to shoehorn an all star team on the field as opposed to think about how a soccer team plays as a unit in a scheme.
IV: I think the 2 CFs was a in case we need it and when TnT bunkered in the game in the US they put Pepi in with Balo and it “worked”. Then thought with a cushion why not start that way get some early goals and put it away. It did work until Dest lost his mind. The only reason I can think why the left the two together for another 20 minutes was they wanted to give them time to build chemistry with 5 g advantage in the aggregate (4-0 +away goal) it wasn’t a huge risk.
it only worked in the narrow sense we were still ahead as halftime approached, by a narrow 1-0. we weren’t dominating the game. we looked a little awkward. to me “works” is up 3-0 and it looks well oiled.
one of the basic issues with GB is i think he takes scheme issues as a player failure as opposed to his widget doesn’t work. more than one player — usually an outlier not getting called — has said this is over-complicated on reads and stuff. nor do i believe he is some secret genius who just can’t explain himself or be fathomed.
the thing has had 7 years. it doesn’t work.
now, 2 strikers might work if you practiced it for a few weeks in copa prep. i think it works with personnel. but you can’t just literally try it on a second game of a pair on little practice in an elimination contest.
now, to be fair, i am asking them to try things in contests, too, but i think they should make priorities among games, and treat more of them as seeking proof of concept on players and concepts. i think fewer contests like perhaps copa should be put on a pedestal and be life and death playing to win, after spending time sorting out who are our best and playing in what way during the rest of the schedule. we treat too much of the schedule as play to win and thus have become passive and status quo.
IV not sure how 2024-2019=7.
Also while I’m responded Pepi joined Balogun for 2 CFs in 66th minute and we outscored TnT 3-0 (ironically the scored you said you needed for it be successful) in those 24 minutes.
My dream:
Pulisic – pick-a-9 – Reyna
—McKennie—Musah—
———–Adams————
Jedi–Ream–Richards-Weah
———–Turner————-
Let Adams go for 45-60. Then use subs for the 9, RW, RB combo…Replace Adams by moving WM and YM back with Reyna in front. Move Weah up (Scally in) to RW and rotate in a 9. Or keep Weah back and bring in a nine that can play on the wing…all depending on what the game gives. I’m good with Ream but a little concerned about pace so maybe give one of the other guys a start there. Weah in back for his pace and his work rate – he can get forward and get back to cover the pace Jamaica offers. When Weah gets forward Reyna can drift inward (he will anyway). Musah can cover the right side while Weah and Reyna attack.
If Adams isn’t starting then move McKennie and Musah back, Reyna as a ten…RW should be Wright then (Pepi is more of a LW when he’s been out there for PSV, correct?).
If Reyna does not start and the US goes up a couple goals early, it is not clear to me that Reyna would be a sub when protecting a lead is the job.
OTOH, if he does not start and the US needs a goal, he is the obvious sub to make.
Tyler Adam’s is not starting versus Jamaica. Berhalther already said he will be used as a sub.
A good move if there is a lead to hold. Not my dream line decision though.
GK-Turner
Defenders-Robinson-Ream-Richards-Scally
Midfielders-Musah-McKennie-Reyna
Forwards-Balogun-Pepi-Pulisic
I’d play a 4-2-3-1 double pivot with McKennie and Musah as co-6’s, Reyna in the 10 – though I’d stare hard at Tillman and see how they looked in practice, and if Tillman is notably sharper (which he might be) he’d get the nod – and at forward I’d actually play Balogun as the left wing, Pepi up top, and Pulisic at right wing where he’s been playing lights-out for AC Milan.
I’d be curious to see how Balogun looks on the left wing, tucking in and playing off Pepi and frequently interchanging with Pulisic on the right. I think it could be lethal.
I still think we are ideally a 4 4 2
Pulisic Balogan
Musah Reyna Adams Mckennie
Robinson Ream Richards Weah
Allows more overall quality on the pitch
Prob need a different manager to run it, though
Q, ugh … I never want to see McKennie as a 6 again. I would start McKennie because he is one of the best attacking players on the team but not at that spot. I think Gregg agrees and that is why he likes playing a 4-3-3. McKennie can play lots of positions but I don’t think a 6 is one of them. I know people will say that is how he played last nations league but I don’t agree; I think Musah played a lone 6 and McKennie pushed way up. I do think he was supposed to be defending in that role against Holland at WC and Germany earlier this year. After Germany performance, Gregg put him on the bench to start against Ghana so I think he saw the same thing. To me that position is a defense- first position requiring a lot of discipline which takes away so many of the attribute make him great player for the US.
I like it but I’d go with Tillman over Reyna due to form, and I’d put Wright on the left in place of Balogun. Up top it’s a toss up between Balogun, Pepi and Vazquez. Even if Adams was healthy I don’t like the MMA midfield now and didn’t like it in the WC. Minimal dynamism, A lot of mileage run and gassed at 65-70 mins. Musah would be the odd man out if Adams is healthy, although I wouldn’t mind seeing him or Weah at right back.